Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Ms. Jackson (2000)
When you're talking about talented duos, Outkast has to be in the conversation. The Atlanta hip hop act has been consistently original and excellent right from the start. They've been on hiatus for a decade, but while they were together, they were at the top of their game.
Outkast was formed in 1992 by Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and Andre 3000 (Andre Benjamin), who met in high school. After three albums that were increasingly more successful, the group released their fourth album, Stankonia, in 2000. The album combined a variety of styles, including funk, rock and gospel. The first single, "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)" grabbed my attention, with its over-the-top mix of high-speed rapping, hot guitar solos, and breakbeats.
But it didn't quite catch on, failing to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single was "Ms. Jackson," which was a totally different kind of song: a mid-tempo funk groove that was reportedly based on Andre 3000's relationship with singer Erykah Badu, with whom he had a child before breaking up. The song finds Andre apologizing to his ex-partner's mother.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh, I am for real/Never meant to make your daughter cry/I apologize a trillion times/I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh, I am for real/Never meant to make your daughter cry/I apologize a trillion times."
But Big Boi brings a more antagonistic attitude towards the situation in his verse.
"She never got a chance to hear my side of the story, we was divided/She had fish fries, cookouts for my child's birthday, I wasn't invited."
Andre 3000 is more wistful about things, acknowledging that the couple had the best intentions but it just didn't work out.
"Me and your daughter got a special thang goin' on/You say it's puppy love, we say it's full grown/Hope that we feel this, feel this way forever/You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather."
The video was a big hit, although it made no effort to dramatize the scenario in the song. Instead, it showed Big Boi and Andre 3000 working on a house while a bunch of cute animals bop along to the beat.
"Ten times out of nine, now if I'm lyin', find/The quickest muzzle, throw it on my out and I'll decline/King meets queen, then the puppy love thing/Together dream about the crib with the Goodyear swing/On the oak tree, I hope we feel like this forever/Forever, forever ever? Forever ever?/Forever never seems that long until you're grown."
The song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2001, and it also hit the top spot in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The album went to #2 on the Billboard 200 and was critically acclaimed.
The group went on to its biggest success with the 2004 double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below, which was basically two solo albums combined into one Outkast album. Andre's song "Hey Ya!" was a monster hit, spending nine weeks at #1 and Big Boi's "The Way You Move" also went to #1. Outkast released a movie and album called Idlewild in 2006; the album sold well but not as well as previous releases.
That was the last Outkast recording. In the years since, Big Boi has released three solo albums; Andre did some guest spots on other albums and acted (including playing Jimi Hendrix in a movie) until releasing a 2023 instrumental album of flute music. Because of course he did.
The duo reunited in 2014 to play a tour of festivals and other large venues, but that's the last time the two have performed together as Outkast.
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